Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Wiki Loves Earth 2025 in Kyrgyzstan (ID: 22954208)/Final Report
Application type: Standard application
Part 1: Project and impact
1. Describe the implemented activities and results achieved. Additionally, share which approaches were most effective in supporting you to achieve the results. (required)
A. Implemented Activities: As part of the Wiki Loves Earth 2025 contest in Kyrgyzstan, the following planned activities were successfully implemented: 1. Information Campaign 1.1. Promotional materials were created and published, including a contest wiki page, promotional videos, and posts on Instagram and Telegram groups. 1.2. Targeted advertising was launched on Instagram, which helped reach a wide audience beyond the existing Kyrgyz Wikimedia community.
2. Training and Support Activities 2.1. An offline Wiki Photo Workshop was held in Bishkek on April 26–27, with the participation of both beginner and experienced photographers. 2.2. Participants were introduced to Wikimedia Commons, basic photography techniques, and image uploading rules. 2.3. Photo workshop in Osh and photo walk to Dangi location from the list of WLE 2025 in Kyrgyzstan in 11 of May
3. Photo Expeditions 3.1. Organized photo trips to lesser-known natural sites from the WLE contest list in Kyrgyzstan, including Dangi (Osh region) and Madigen (Batken region). 3.2. A total of 20 volunteers from the Kyrgyz Wikipedia community and local photographers participated in the expeditions, capturing unique content of underrepresented locations.
4. Partnerships and Collaboration 4.1. Collaboration was established with civil society organizations, including Noviy Ritm, Cultural Center Kuduk (NGOs). 4.2. As a part of this cooperation, $1000 in co-funding was provided for the contest implementation, along with assistance in social media promotion and outreach.
5. Promotion and Awards 5.1. An exhibition and award ceremony for the winners were initially planned for August; however, due to time limitations, the event had to be rescheduled for late September. 5.2. Three winners received monetary prizes: Originally planned: 12,900 KGS each for macro and landscape categories, and 4,300 KGS for video. However, due to a lack of video submissions, the jury team decided to redistribute the prize fund among the top three winners in the photography categories.
B. Results Achieved:
- A total of 51 participants uploaded photos, of whom 41 (80%) were new users who registered after the contest began.
- More than 1,099 photographs were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
- At least 28 images (approx. 3%) have already been used in Wikipedia articles, helping to visually enrich free knowledge resources.
- More than 40 participants in two photo workshops
C. Most Effective Approaches:
- Active communication on social media, including targeted advertising and collaboration with local influencers, significantly expanded audience reach and attracted new participants.
- Photo expeditions were a key element in generating unique visual content, especially from remote or underrepresented natural areas in Kyrgyzstan.
- Partnerships with local NGOs enhanced the relevance and credibility of the contest, and helped mobilize additional resources and promotional support.
2. Documentation of your impact. Please use space below to share links that help tell your story, impact, and evaluation. (required)
Share links to:
- Project page on Meta-Wiki or any other Wikimedia project
- Dashboards and tools that you used to track contributions
- Some photos or videos from your event. Remember to share access.
You can also share links to:
- Important social media posts
- Surveys and their results
- Infographics and sound files
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects
• Project page on Wiki Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2025_in_Kyrgyzstan/ky
- Photo workshop in Bishkek
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Photo_Workshop_2025_in_Bishkek/ky
- Social media posts:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJoN2_Dos-m/?igsh=dTBjZG9mMGZzNGo1 https://www.instagram.com/p/DIJAfHUoAuz/?igsh=MTBvOTYwbGhoZm1hZg==
- Report post on Instagram about winners and their prizes, along with their comments about their work:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DN7bgRrCCU2/?igsh=aGZ6MTdhOTczenJ6
- Photos from two expeditions:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1spQyhsj5VueuPhz593jsd-uJHv41Leok?usp=sharing
Additionally, share the materials and resources that you used in the implementation of your project. (required)
For example:
- Training materials and guides
- Presentations and slides
- Work processes and plans
- Any other materials your team has created or adapted and can be shared with others
Application form for participation in a photography workshop in Osh and an expedition: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd9E5PZ00sztegHJ4hcgxIDkNs9WsY4ftp9DAjweIXsujAaZw/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=110121690319538331240
Link to the presentation about WLE 2025 in Kyrgyzstan for using in online and offline events:https://www.canva.com/design/DAGnEXajwyU/KrKyt2-e8KfcUqyUstu9nw/edit?utm_content=DAGnEXajwyU&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton Winners' diplomas: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGwtnFN2eQ/f4dY5zroPZhQBpAjCYxi0w/edit?utm_content=DAGwtnFN2eQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with this Rapid Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals. Required. Select one option per question. (required)
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Neither agree nor disagree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Neither agree nor disagree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Neither agree nor disagree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Strongly agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Strongly agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | Strongly agree |
| F. Other (optional) |
Part 2: Learning
4. In your application, you outlined some learning questions. What did you learn from these learning questions when you implemented your project? How do you hope to use this learnings in the future? You can recall these learning questions below. (required)
You can recall these learning questions below: The main questions we would like to answer include: how to more effectively engage and motivate participants in the long term, what community outreach methods are most successful for implementing initiatives to develop the Kyrgyz wikipedia, and how to maximize collaboration with official and local communities. The project work will give us valuable insight into what approaches promote sustainable engagement and active participation in conservation initiatives through Wikis.
During the implementation of this project, we explored several important and relevant topics for our community — both in terms of internal development and external collaboration. Our experience showed that offline events, such as workshops, are much more effective at engaging participants. For example, our photo workshop was not only aimed at the Wiki Loves Earth photo contest, but also included training in mobile photography, social media marketing (SMM), and professional photography skills. As a result, we attracted a wide range of participants, including many who had never taken part in such activities before. Moreover, the photo expeditions we organized to unique locations like Madygen and Dagi drew significant interest. These expeditions resulted in a large number of media files from regions where previously there was little to no content — neither on Wikimedia Commons nor online in general. Many of the submitted photos made it into the longlist and shortlist of the contest, which we consider a great achievement. We concluded that, for long-term engagement and motivation, offline events focused on collaboration and interaction within the community are particularly effective. They help build lasting involvement and encourage participants to continue contributing. Another key insight was the value of partnering with local communities and NGOs. Such collaborations allow us to align shared values, increase social media reach, and even secure additional funding. Going forward, we plan to strengthen our work with local organizations and place greater emphasis on offline activities. We also aim to scale up successful formats like photo expeditions and hands-on workshops in the future.
5. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities? This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences? (required)
The most unexpected and positive outcome was receiving additional funding to organize the photo expeditions. The originally approved budget was not sufficient to cover this, but with the extra support we secured, we successfully carried out two photo expeditions in different locations, as well as two photography workshops — one in Bishkek and one in Osh. This experience highlighted the importance of actively promoting our projects, sharing our work with others, and building networks for future collaborative initiatives. On the downside, we encountered a challenge: although many people initially expressed interest in attending the offline workshops, several of them canceled at the last minute or simply did not show up. We believe one of the reasons was unclear or ineffective communication between the organizers and potential participants. Instead of contacting them individually, we only created WhatsApp groups and sent group messages to remind them. As a result, some participants may not have taken the invitation seriously. This experience taught us the importance of clear, direct, and personalized communication. Moving forward, we plan to improve our communication strategies by confirming participation individually and maintaining closer contact with attendees — to ensure better turnout and engagement.
6. What is your plan to share your project learnings and results with other community members? If you have already done it, describe how. (required)
We plan to share the knowledge and results of our project through several key activities. First, we will write a detailed post on Diff to highlight our main insights, achievements, and challenges. This post will be useful for other community members who are interested in launching similar initiatives. Second, we regularly participate in the Central Asia online community meetups, which are held monthly. We’ve already shared some initial outcomes there and plan to continue the conversation — especially about what worked well and what could be improved. Third, at the end of September, we will organize a public exhibition and presentation of our project. Community members will be able to see the results firsthand and hear stories and lessons learned directly from the organizers. This will be a great opportunity for networking and knowledge exchange. Additionally, we are considering hosting a dedicated webinar or workshop to share our experience more broadly — especially with participants from other regions or countries, to inspire and support similar future projects.
Part 3: Metrics
7. Wikimedia Metrics results. (required)
In your application, you set some Wikimedia targets in numbers (Wikimedia metrics). In this section, you will describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used.
| Target | Results | Comments and tools used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 50 | 51 | https://wikiloves.toolforge.org/earth/2025 |
| Number of editors | 50 | 51 | https://wikiloves.toolforge.org/earth/2025 |
| Number of organizers | 8 | 8 | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2025_in_Kyrgyzstan |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 0 | 28 | |
| Wikimedia Commons | 1000 | 1099 | 0 |
| Wikidata | |||
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | |||
| Wikivoyage | |||
| Wikibooks | |||
| Wikiversity | |||
| Wikinews | |||
| Wikispecies | |||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
8. Other Metrics results.
In your proposal, you could also set Other Metrics targets. Please describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used if you set Other Metrics in your application.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 50 quality images in WikiCommons; | 48 | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Quality_images_from_Wiki_Loves_Earth_2025_in_Kyrgyzstan | |
| 20 | 20 new Uploaders registered after competition started | 41 | https://wikiloves.toolforge.org/earth/2025 | |
| 20519 | target results on social media: https://wikiloves.toolforge.org/earth/2025 | |||
9. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? (required)
No
9.1. Please state what difficulties you had. How do you hope to overcome these challenges in the future? Do you have any recommendations for the Foundation to support you in addressing these challenges? (required)
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]10. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency. (required)
2072.02
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
2072.02
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
Provide the link to the financial report https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gZSf63rf2qvloljc7f2WyHPUmrmXkslEX4-wMdZrhB8/edit?usp=sharing
12.2. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
13. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
No
13.1. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
N/A
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
N/A
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
14.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
Yes
14.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
14.3. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
Yes
15. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. (optional)
Review notes
[edit]Review notes from Program Officer:
N/A
Applicant's response to the review feedback.
N/A